


Thaw

by amuse



Series: Sounds Like Hallelujah [2]
Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Character Death, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Series of ficlets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-19
Updated: 2014-01-19
Packaged: 2018-01-09 07:27:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1143185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amuse/pseuds/amuse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He has to consider that family isn’t a specifically defined thing either.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thaw

It’s easy to see the way Taylor takes to Marc every time she’s around the team. Marc smiles easily and talks quickly in much the same way she does, especially when it comes to hockey, and it’s strange for Sidney to see. She’s grown into the Penguins just like he has and it’s formed their lives in a way he couldn’t have expected. It scares him sometimes, to think about his sister engaging in this sport, despite how different their lives could be without it, but at the same time it gives them common ground. He knows he’d forgotten how to talk to her in the months that followed their parents’ accident and somehow hockey’s been giving it back to him.

Sidney doesn’t take Taylor to practice often, just when she’s off from school and he’s determined to spend time with her. It isn’t enough and he’s always questioning what kind of family life he’s giving her. She’s happier than she was a year ago, though, and that’s all he needs to see sometimes.

They have their holiday skate yearly, though Sidney had bowed out from that first one. The team had been understanding then, but they’ve been giving him less and less rope as the months pass by. In a hockey sense, he’s happy about that. He’s responding in the only way he knows - with big numbers and explosive games - but off the ice, it still makes him cringe. Nathalie calms him and Mario doesn’t always spare his feelings when he tells Sidney some things are necessary. Sidney isn’t sure if Mario means for the team or for himself but the whole getting out there and keeping himself busy makes sense.

At least until he sees some of the guys with their kids and it’s such a hurt in his heart to think of every time he’d skated with his father or smiled at his mother. It kills him to see Taylor making due here instead of being a kid in Nova Scotia where so much is different and that shape is what Sidney wants to see.

The hand on his shoulder is large and when Sidney looks up, it’s Geno who’s smiling at him. The Russian knows as much English now as he did when he showed up months ago and sometimes Sidney yells at Gonch for allowing Geno to be lazy about it. It’s the lightest Sidney is sometimes but he can’t help himself, not when he’s caught in the width of Geno’s smile and how warm it is. 

“Sister goalie,” Geno says as he motions to Marc and Taylor together. Sidney nods but doesn’t say much because Geno won’t understand if he offers Taylor's youth hockey history anyway. They talk mostly through gestures and quick touches that Sidney doesn’t think to be bothered by. He remembers them, though, hours and days later when he feels alone and threatened by the sadness he works so hard not to allow.

Geno tugs on his shoulder and motions with his head towards the ice. “Skate,” he says. “For fun.” 

It’s always fun even when it’s work, but Sidney doesn’t think Geno would understand if he said that either. He just smiles at the Russian and follows him to the ice thinking that it’s kind of a nice change.

Later, there’s a moment of subdued noiselessness when he’s watching Geno with Taylor and Gonch’s little girl, both of them holding her tiny little hands with enormous smiles on their faces. He imagines Geno misses home and his family, too, and in some tiny way they can relate to each other in that. He wonders if that’s why Geno pays so much attention to Taylor, if his attempts to get her to smile are somehow linked because they are. 

Sidney keeps looking, though. He watches his team and how they feel the season infuse their ice. Everyone is grouped separately and together but none of it is defined. He has to consider that family isn’t a specifically defined thing either. In his own calmer moments, he wants to believe it.

Then Geno catches Sidney watching and he waves. Sidney finds himself waving back and Geno beams.

When he tucks Taylor into bed that night, she clutches a stuffed bear decked out in a mini Team Russia jersey. Geno had taken her aside, put a finger to his lips, and handed her the gift. She loves it the way she loves every present she’s gotten but it’s the one she chooses to hug into dreams. Sidney can’t help save her youthfulness but somehow the people around him pick up that slack. He really wants to put his arms around this world but finds instead that he just has to let his sister do it for him.

**Author's Note:**

> All of my notes are at the beginning of Part One :)


End file.
